RRND Email Full Text (Scheduled)


  • American Gestapo/American Psycho

    Source: Judging Freedom
    by Andrew P Napolitano

    “Last week, a half-dozen masked and unidentifiable Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents killed a 37-year-old federal employee, a nurse, by spraying pepper spray into his eyes, pushing him to the ground, stealing his lawfully owned and carried handgun, and then shooting him nine times in the back. … ​Under the Constitution, immigration — who can legally come to and remain in the United States — was left to the states to regulate; and naturalization — who can become an American citizen — was left to the feds.” (01/29/26)

    https://archive.is/1bqoc

  • From Georgia’s Film Subsidies to Intel’s Collapse, Industrial Policy Keeps Failing

    Source: Reason
    by Veronique de Rugy

    “Industrial policy is failing, and not just in Washington. Across America, officials promise to engineer the right economic outcomes by intervening in the market in just the right ways. Most people know that under Presidents Joe Biden and Donald Trump, the idea has exploded. Less appreciated is how enthusiastically governors and state legislators are embracing their own versions. They repeat the same claims: With the right mix of subsidies, protection, and political direction, one government or another can revive strategic industries and deliver durable economic strength. The results tell a different story. Wherever it’s found, industrial policy is producing wasted resources, distorted incentives, and fragile outcomes that collapse the moment political support shifts or market realities intrude.” (01/29/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/01/29/from-georgias-film-subsidies-to-intels-collapse-industrial-policy-keeps-failing/

  • Networks Versus Hierarchies in Minneapolis’s Struggle Against ICE

    Source: Center for a Stateless Society
    by Frank Miroslav

    “For some time, I was thinking about writing a review of Kevin Carson’s book The Desktop Regulatory State, which helped inspire me to become an anarchist back in 2016, to see how it aged in the decade since it was published. But then ICE invaded the city of Minneapolis. And then the citizens fought back in a way that is seemingly a textbook application of what Carson wrote about in that book, to the point that if a second edition is ever published, I would not at all be surprised if it had an entire subsection in the appendix of the book, Case Study in Networked Resistance.” (01/28/26)

    https://c4ss.org/content/60977

  • The Incredibility of Credibility

    Source: Bet On It
    by Bryan Caplan

    “When they hear about awesome yet unlikely policy reforms, one of economists’ favorite reactions is to shrug and sigh, ‘But there’s a huge credibility problem.’ Why not promise foreign investors that they’ll never be expropriated? ‘Credibility. Investors know that after they invest, you’ll reverse the policy.’ Why not deny immigrants welfare benefits for life? ‘Credibility. Natives know that once the immigrants are here, they’ll soon pressure us for equal treatment.’ Why not allow people to give up Social Security benefits in exchange for lower taxes? ‘Credibility. Americans won’t tolerate senior citizens living on the streets.’ Citing ‘credibility’ makes economists sound wise, and laymen sound like wise economists. Yet on reflection, most credibility arguments are foolishly obtuse.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.betonit.ai/p/the-incredibility-of-credibility

  • Kennedy Center: Don’t Mend It, End It

    Source: Garrison Center
    by Thomas L Knapp

    “After only two weeks on the job, The Hill reports, Kevin Couch resigned in late January as head of artistic programming at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Couch’s brief tenure might seem surprising, but a better question is why Couch sought or accepted the position in the first place.  With a reasonably impressive record dating back 30 years as a drummer, manager, and midwest talent booker, why swim toward a sinking ship? And a better question yet is: Why bother to keep that ship afloat at all?” (01/29/26)

    https://thegarrisoncenter.org/archives/20292

  • Forget About Online Groypers. Instagram Influencers Will Be The Real Death Of America

    Source: The Federalist
    by Kylee Griswold

    “emember just three months ago, when conservatives self-immolated over a smarmy little twerp named Nick Fuentes, who was supposedly going to be the downfall of the conservative movement because he was being platformed? … The Fuentes hysteria looks especially stupid now — first because of a new report from Eric Kaufman at the University of Buckingham Center for Heterodox Social Science showing just how weak Fuentes’[s] influence really is …. nd second, because we’re once again experiencing a flare-up of a phenomenon with way more power than Nick Fuentes and frog memes have ever had: low-information Instagram performance posting.” (01/29/26)

    https://thefederalist.com/2026/01/29/forget-about-online-groypers-instagram-influencers-will-be-the-real-death-of-america/

  • The American people fact-checked their government

    Source: Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression
    by Jacob Mchangama

    “On Oct. 17, 1961, tens of thousands of Algerians marched through the streets of Paris in peaceful defiance of a discriminatory curfew imposed by the French state. Police opened fire, beat protesters, arrested them en masse — and, in some cases, threw people into the Seine, where they drowned. Historians later called it ‘the bloodiest act of state repression of street protest in Western Europe in modern history.’ At least 48 — but possibly hundreds — were killed. Yet for decades, the official story minimized the violence. The death toll, it was claimed, was three. Police had acted to defend themselves. The protesters were terrorists. The French state actively buried the truth. Records were falsified. Evidence suppressed. Investigations blocked. Publications seized. The paper trail was shaped to match the story. … Paris 1961 is a historical warning. Minneapolis 2026 is its modern counterpoint.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.thefire.org/news/american-people-fact-checked-their-government

  • ICE’s Theater of War

    Source: Mother Jones
    by Inae Oh

    “The Trump administration may be starting to show small signs of regret after its lies about Alex Pretti’s killing proved too much for Americans. But make no mistake: The wind-down is about quelling a PR crisis amid tanking poll numbers — not regret for their terrorist-like behavior. President Trump and his inner circle still insist that rounding people up and crushing dissidents brings peace to American cities besieged by the assault of having an immigrant community. In fact, some, like Steve Bannon, are calling for further escalation.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/01/how-ice-dresses-cbp-minneapolis-military-theater-of-war/

  • Raiders of the Lost Cause

    Source: The Bulwark
    by Andrew Egger

    “Although it feels insane to have to write this in 2026, I guess I probably should: All Trump’s claims about the supposed mendacity of the 2020 election have been endlessly litigated and relitigated. The votes have been counted, recounted, investigated, and audited. Every investigation into the matter has confirmed the same thing: Trump’s claims were preposterous lies in 2020, and they remain just as preposterously untrue six years on. There’s one thing that’s new, though. It’s possible that now, unlike in 2020, we no longer live in a world where the actual truth or falsehood of such claims actually matters.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.thebulwark.com/p/trump-is-still-obsessed-with-stealing-elections-georgia-fulton-fbi-2020-2026-2028

  • Reading Obituaries

    Source: TomDispatch
    by Tom Engelhardt

    “Having reached a certain age and long been fascinated by obituaries, I sometimes think about both Donald Trump’s and my own. At 79, he’s just slightly less than two years younger than me, though of course I wasn’t the 45th president of the United States or the 47th one either. And eight chaotic years (or more?) as president (assuming he makes it that far) guarantee him a monster (and I do indeed use that word advisedly) set of obituaries when he dies, whereas almost a quarter-century at TomDispatch guarantees me nothing at all.” (01/29/26)

    https://tomdispatch.com/reading-obituaries/

  • Is the US Dollar Dominant or Doomed? Analysts Read the Same Data — Very Differently

    Source: Bitcoin.com
    by Jamie Redman

    “As gold and silver reach historic price levels in early 2026, two specific analyses offer sharply different interpretations of what the U.S. dollar’s recent movement signals about U.S. policy, capital flows, and global markets.” (01/29/26)

    https://news.bitcoin.com/is-the-us-dollar-dominant-or-doomed-analysts-read-the-same-data-very-differently/

  • The Unraveling Right

    Source: Washington Monthly
    by David Austin Walsh

    “The MAGA movement is fracturing between donors, intellectuals, influencers, and an increasingly radical base.” (01/29/26)

    https://washingtonmonthly.com/2026/01/29/the-unraveling-right/

  • Washington’s Misplaced Shipbuilding Obsession

    Source: Cato Institute
    by Colin Grabow

    “In a year dominated by sharp partisanship, numerous lawmakers improbably united around the revival of America’s commercial shipbuilding industry. Congressional legislation that would channel billions into shipyard subsidies and new trade restrictions attracted scores of cosponsors. The White House issued an executive order aimed at maritime revitalization, and a trade pact with South Korea includes a pledge to invest $150 billion in U.S. shipyards. But expectations of a genuine American shipbuilding renaissance should be kept in check. The United States is ill-suited to quickly transform from a virtual non-participant in commercial shipbuilding to a competitive producer of large cargo vessels. More likely is another round of costly subsidies, continued shipbuilding dysfunction, and little progress toward addressing the country’s key maritime challenges.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.cato.org/commentary/washingtons-misplaced-shipbuilding-obsession

  • Trump successfully turns off crazy Biden era regulations on your home appliances

    Source: Fox News
    by Ben Lieberman

    “President Donald Trump has sharply diverged from his predecessor on nearly every issue, perhaps most of all concerning federal home appliance regulations. The Biden administration loved regulating appliances, imposing new requirements for stoves, dishwashers, furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters, light bulbs, refrigerators, washing machines and more. Trump wasted no time targeting such meddling with an Inauguration Day executive order reconsidering these regulations, and his administration is making progress on this priority. Here is an overview of what the administration achieved in year one on home appliance regulations — and what remains undone.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/trump-successfully-turns-off-crazy-biden-era-regulations-your-home-appliances

  • The Invisible Hand at Sea

    Source: Foundation for Economic Education
    by Cláudia Ascensão Nunes

    “The archipelago of the Azores, a Portuguese territory located in the North Atlantic between Europe and North America, is frequently celebrated for its natural beauty, volcanic landscapes, and the idyllic image of dairy cows dominating the green islands. This tourist imagery, however, hides a historically difficult economic reality. The geographic location of the Azores, marked by insularity, market isolation, and natural limitations on agricultural production, has imposed deep economic costs.” (01/29/26)

    https://fee.org/articles/the-invisible-hand-at-sea/

  • Cathy reads books: Enlightenment 2.0 review

    Source: Sex and the State
    by Cathy Reisenwitz

    “I’m a bit of a freak for human irrationality. My first love was politics. My profession is marketing. I’ve read more Behavioral Econ than a normal person. So a book whose thesis is ‘humans are bad at reasoning and that’s why politics sucks and is so tribal, irrational, and populist’ was obviously going to appeal to me. Enter Enlightenment 2.0, by Joseph Heath.” (01/29/26)

    https://cathyreisenwitz.substack.com/p/cathy-reads-books-enlightenment-20

  • Taming Big Tech

    Source: hypertext
    by David Dagan

    “AI’s embodiment in grimly purpose-built data centers is drawing grassroots opposition from across the political spectrum. Deeper fears of AI doom are generating proposals for more serious regulation of the technology. The EU has already acted. And the ever-growing anxiety over the cultural acid leaking through our phones is leading many schools and parents to clamp down. Will we get a political movement that is equal to the challenge this time?” (01/29/26)

    https://hypertext.niskanencenter.org/p/taming-big-tech

  • The Justifications For War With Iran Keep Changing

    Source: Caitlin Johnstone
    by Caitlin Johnstone

    “First it’s nukes, then it’s conventional missiles, then it’s protesters, and now it’s back to nukes again. Kinda seems like war with Iran is itself the objective, and they’re just making up excuses to get there. As the US moves war machinery to the middle east and holds multi-day war games throughout the region, President Trump and his handlers have been posting threats to the Iranian government on social media warning them to ‘make a deal’ on nuclear weapons.” (01/29/26)

    https://caitlinjohnstone.com.au/2026/01/29/the-justifications-for-war-with-iran-keep-changing/

  • Higher Education May Be Beyond Saving, Unless …

    Source: Independent Institute
    by Richard K Vedder

    “I’ve spent more than two-thirds of a century (since 1958) at American universities. Never in all those years has their earned and deserved reputation as the best in the world suffered bigger threats than today. U.S. colleges and universities not only have behaved abysmally, but they’re now paying a high price for showing contempt for the prevailing values of the public that sustains them. … Can and will universities be saved, overcoming this crisis? Not without some serious behavioral modification.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.independent.org/article/2026/01/29/higher-education-may-be-beyond-saving-unless/

  • We Can’t Repeat It Enough: Privatize the Roads

    Source: Libertarian Institute
    by Patrick Carroll

    “The libertarian position on driver’s licenses, on drunk driving, on human-driven cars, on speed limits, and every other road rule is the same as it has always been: privatize the roads and let private road owners make their own rules. If one is asked ‘What shall the government do if privatization is off the table,’ the answer is ‘Libertarian principle does not mandate a particular second-best solution, only that the right thing to do is complete privatization.’ If road privatization is thought to be undesirable for whatever reason, then that is understandable — but then the person with this position is simply not a libertarian on this question.” (01/29/26)

    https://libertarianinstitute.org/articles/we-cant-repeat-it-enough-privatize-the-roads

  • The Murderers Among Us

    Source: CounterPunch
    by Eve Ottenberg

    “Since Donald Trump took office in 2025, ICE has murdered at least 34 people in the U.S. It has deported 623,900 people. Those are not negligible numbers. They are the beginning – mark that, the beginning – of the ethnic cleansing of America. They are the first shot across the bow of any contraption or conglomeration that might oppose shipping nonwhites out of country. There are 68 million Hispanics in the U.S., and it’s safe to say that Scharfuhrer Stephen Miller wants to deport them all. Will Trump’s henchmen limit their ambitions to Hispanics? I doubt it.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/01/29/the-murderers-among-us/

  • Conservative “Judicial Activists” vs. ICE

    Source: Reason
    by Damon Root

    “Why a conservative judge’s ‘patience is at an end’ over Trump’s immigration crackdown.” (01/29/26)

    https://reason.com/2026/01/29/conservative-judicial-activists-vs-ice/

  • After Alex Pretti’s Murder, it’s Clear That MAGA Media Views White Liberals as Race Traitors

    Source: Liberal Currents
    by Alan Elrod

    “MAGA is committed to the belief that the people ICE is pursuing are inherently bad and that therefore opposing ICE is standing with criminals and rapists against the American people.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.liberalcurrents.com/after-alex-prettis-murder-its-clear-that-maga-media-views-white-liberals-as-race-traitors/

  • The Forgotten Casualties in Trump’s Wars

    Source: The American Conservative
    by Doug Bandow

    “The world can be an ugly place, and Washington sometimes faces terrible choices. However, the U.S. president possesses neither the moral nor legal authority to wander the globe randomly imposing his will and killing anyone in the way. Someone claiming to be a peacemaker should stop irresponsibly visiting death and destruction upon other people. Even in Venezuela.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-forgotten-casualties-in-trumps-wars/

  • Scholarship tax credits can help more Kentucky students succeed

    Source: Bluegrass Institute
    by Gary W Houchens

    “Different families have different educational needs. Scholarship tax credits can help many struggling Kentucky students succeed. While the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act created the opportunity for these scholarships, each state must opt into the program each year. House Bill 88 could begin Kentucky’s process for adopting a more-robust form of educational freedom for low-to-middle income families. Here are some upsides for families of a scholarship tax credit program that Kentucky lawmakers might adopt this year.” (01/29/26)

    https://www.bluegrassinstitute.org/scholarship-tax-credits/